For me, it would probably have to be my Bialetti moka pot and Dualit toaster. I make a pot of coffee and toast almost every morning. I also hope to replace my old pans with a cast iron one soon, and I look forward to using that a lot.
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Anyone here that hasn’t said silicone spatula better get online shopping right freaking now. SILICONE SPATULA SUPREMACY 🙏🙏🙏🙏
Good call! Most grocery stores carry them too, that’s where I got mine. I picked up two, one with a scoopy end and another with a regular spatula end. They’re so nice!
Wasn’t my first thought but I’m with you on that! I’m personally a huge fan of dioro
Appliance: Electric kettle. (they are uncommon in the US) It’s well worth the counter space and easier to get boiling water than a pot on the stove, or to pre-heat water I add to a pan.
Non-appliance: Cheapo but sharp chef’s knife, spatula, and kitchen tongs (great for grabbing hot lids too!).
As a Briton, the lack of electric kettles in US kitchens astonishes me - I can’t imagine getting by without one. But I remember hearing somewhere that it was related to the lower mains voltage in the US, meaning that they take longer to boil in the US?
US electrical is weird.
We have 240v mains in basically every house (a very small percentage have 480v, which is normally reserved only for industrial buildings).
However, that 240v gets split at our local transformers into two 120v phases, separated by 180° phase. This allows either 120 or 240v (120+120) in our homes.
So yeah, most plugs including those in our kitchens are 120v.
However! A 120v electric kettle still blows out any other heating method, especially gas, gas is soooo slow. Some high-power induction stoves can keep up, because they can dump boatloads of power into a kettle and are really efficient, and honestly even small induction hobs like mine aren’t much slower (5 mins instead of 3). But an electric kettle is like $25 and uses less power. They’re so useful!
I’ve heard that too…of course, I can’t compare to 240V but it takes me probably 2-3 minutes to boil about 2 cups of water and probably 5-6 for a full kettle at a rolling boil (rough estimate from memory). It’s not much faster than the stove but theres no wasted heat, and no hot pan sitting on a burner after I’m done. Another theory I’ve heard is that in the US people opt for a drip coffee maker instead of a kettle (for their one spot on the counter? Why not both?), since we don’t drink tea that often.
We drink coffee, but prefer an electric kettle for water and then use the pour over method for individual cups or french presses if we need more than a cup at a time in a hurry. Less waste this way and allows for tea and coffee when hubs and I want it.
I don’t think they’re that uncommon in the US. They’re not ubiquitous like they are in Europe but I feel like the majority of people have them. As mentioned, it’s probably more to do with whether you drink tea than anything else, and not as many people drink tea all the time here. Come to think of it, I’ve never seen anyone boil water for tea on the stove in the last decade. They either use a kettle or they don’t drink tea at all.
I didn’t realize this was a thing many American homes lack or are perceived by other countries to lack? I’m in the US and have one, my teenage stepson loves it for getting water up to temp faster for his cooking. I don’t use it that often but I think it’s worth having anyway.
Only slightly longer than a 240v kettle, but still much faster than a kettle over a gas range.
Real reason is that most people in the US don’t drink tea and don’t have a need for quick hot water on demand.
I would probably hand over my beloved grind and brew amazing coffeemaker that also had a timer (it’s also my alarm) well before the electric kettle. Not only for tea, pour overs, kombucha, head start on quinoa, pasta, etc, blanching, and so on.
My 10" cast iron Lodge skillet. It’s great! And don’t believe all the people who claim that you have to devote most of your life to taking care of your cast iron. They’re cast iron for God’s sake! Pioneers took them all the way across America in their Conestoga wagons. Just don’t leave them wet or stick them in a dishwashing machine, and you’re fine!
Agreed. Cast iron is very easy to take care of. I replaced all nonstick with cast iron years ago and haven’t looked back.
Iron lodge is great. I have a 12" stargazer that weighs almost 7 lbs. I developed crazy forearms just handling that beast.
I can’t imagine how a smaller person could cook with one of those things. It’s all I can do to lift it to dump out whatever I’ve been cooking.
I saw a much bigger Lodge skillet in a department store; maybe it was 15 in, maybe more. Anyway, I couldn’t even shift it with one hand. It took two hands just to move it, and it wasn’t easy!
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I really wonder about the people who are constantly stripping and re-seasoning their pans. It seems almost abusive.
Yes! I use mine almost daily. Love that I can go straight from the stove top to the oven without using another dish
Probably just my chef knife. But that’s an obvious and boring answer.
My choice would be my hand blender. I use it for making any dips, many sauces (it is made out of metal) and it also got a blender attachment for shredding vegetables. One of the best investments I made for my kitchen.
Yeah, I love my chef’s knife too. I recently received a hand blender secondhand but I am yet to use it!
I second the hand blender. It’s just so versatile. I’ll add soups and mayo to your list too.
An unexpected one for me was my air fryer. I thought it would be very situational and gimmicky, but I use it all the time. It’s basically a small second oven that cooks food faster, uses less energy, and doesn’t take forever to preheat
And things come out more crispy due to the increased air circulation. I wouldn’t have guessed i would use it so often too.
I have become an air fryer believer. Yes, it’s basically a convection toaster oven, but SOMEHOW it works 100x better. That, my instant pot, and my stand mixer are my life. Air fryer to quickly make chicken nuggets for my picky children, instant pot for rice and beans, and my stand mixer for bread. We love carbs.
Air fryers are absolutely worth it. I have a bucket style one, but now I really want the more oven styled one for pizzas and sandwiches.
I don’t see the point of using an oven for anything other than baking ever again
I got a really simple one, but it’s been incredibly helpful. Get the biggest damn bowl you can find, like unreasonably large, that is your new mixing bowl. I always find myself half way through a recipe with no bowl space left, therefore more dishes. My bowl looks like it could be an outside dogs water bowl it’s so big. Now with big bowl, I grab it every time and never have to switch, the only downside is finding somewhere to hide it.
Yes, I love me a big ol’ bowl! For the same reasons you mentioned.
It’s also helpful for when you’re sick and pukey and don’t want to be stuck by the toilet or just don’t want to stick your head in the toilet at all, lol.
Oh yes! I love my giant bowls for washing voluminous leafy greens and fermenting fruit vinegars.
My carbon steel pans are used almost every day. I’ve got a 32 cm wok for stir frying, deep frying and blanching big portions. And i got a 28 cm debuyer mineral b for searing meat and fish.
A ramekin full of salt on the counter.
I’ve been using a Lido 2 hand grinder for coffee every morning for almost 12 years now. More recently (~7 years) I’ve settled on using a Chemex to actually make my coffee. I’ll likely keep using this setup for the rest of my life.
I also have a cast iron and I struggle with seasoning because all the burners I’ve ever used are just a bit too small for it (common electric ones). Soon I’ll buy a torch (like for making Crème Brûlée) and maybe some sunflower oil to experiment on getting a reaallly nice coating on it. Sunflower oil has I higher burn temperature, so I’m thinking it will improve the longevity of the coating, but we’ll see.
I’m embarrassed, but…my microwave gets a lot of use. I meal prep and reheat a lot, though sometimes I get fancy and finish in the toaster oven. I also bake all my bread, and the kitchenaid is invaluable for kneading all that dough.
The most esoteric tool I use on the reg is probably the whirley pop, it makes the best stovetop popcorn, which I snack on at least a couple times a week.
Nothing wrong with microwave cooking. You’d be surprised how many things you can cook with one. Old school microwave cookbooks from the 70s are awesome.
I love my microwave too. Had to get a new one recently as our old one bit the dust. It meant a whole week without microwave lentils or precooked meals that I’d frozen. I was so lost! I’m not a huge fan of cooking so the micro is my friend.
Oh same on the whirley pop. It took a lot of deliberation before I bought it, because it’s such a single use thing for my small kitchen. But it is so much better than microwave popcorn and so much easier than shaking a pot/bowl on the stove. Definitely worth it!
I concur!! I used to burn so much popcorn lol. The company is also amazing, the first one I got looked slightly wonky, but after a phone call and a few photos they were able to figure out it was damaged in transit and sent me a new lid within a week!
My cast iron pan. I use it for everything that doesn’t need to be done in a pot. Even things I probably shouldn’t do in a cast iron like stir fry I do anyways because it’s just already there and convenient.
And they are so much easier to take care of than all the cast-iron fori/subs/articles yammer on about. I “neglect” my ancient cast iron terribly, and it’s doing just fine.
I just scrub it, rinse it out then cook the empty pan to get rid of any moisture. it’s easier than cleaning anything else I own and will probably be around long after I’m dead.
After years of thinking about getting one, I got a cheap ($12) japanese rice washer. It’s amazing! I make a lot more rice than I used to and the washer is so simple and just works so well. It also doubles as a regular colander whenever needed.
Me too! I’ve also used it as a colander, and I used it to catch a small lizard that found its way into my house a couple weeks ago.
If only it didn’t come with a sticker on the bottom that resists removal…
I’ve got Zojirushi instant hot-water maker and their bread machine that both get a lot of use. And I recently picked up some random brand one-top induction cooktop that has taken most of the action away from our older electric stove. But the one thing you would have to pry from my cold dead hands would be the rack of cast iron cookware. At least one or two of the pans there get used every day.
I’ll go with: High quality burr coffee grinder.
I bought it in 2004 or so, it gets used daily, and still works like new.
Only thing I’ve ever done is replace the burrs a few weeks ago cause they were getting dull. Was an easy job and the burrs were pretty inexpensive.
Just going to save some people some research and say: just get a Baratza Encore. Good enough at it’s price point to make great filter, cold brew, or aeropress coffee, and every part that could possibly break can be ordered directly from the company and repaired yourself (although a lot of people go 5-10 years with their machine in perfect condition). If you’re doing espresso, there’s the encore ESP, and if you really want the highest quality burrs for the price, you can go for a hand grinder from any number of companies, such as 1zpresso
Baratza Encore
Sounds like a great deal. Mine’s a Rancilio Rocky, but I didn’t specifically suggest it as I knew the market would have changed in the past 20 years.
